Godbound: Cults and Demiurges of the (Alternate) Bright Republic

This post is (hopefully) a work of fiction.

A continuation of the (depressing) post from last time on an alternate Bright Republic where society is about to collapse and everyone is breaking at the seams, only what's coming is the cruel realities of the world of Godbound and its realm, Arcem. These are cult, cabals and malcontents of the Bright Republics. Everything is ten minutes from midnight. Society is at a breaking point. In a world where divine power and transhumanism exist, this can lead many down to a darker path.

The Khamite Ascendency

Art by Tiago Baltar

The Polyarchy of Kham was the nation/people which the Ancalian and others descend and they were quite focused on transhumanism. In the Bright Republic, advanced transhumanism beyond attempts at restoring a body to its original function through medical means are generally banned. Knowledge of human modifying their bodies and souls to greater, immortal beings is generally something that is seen as the purview of science fiction novels. The various movements of Khamite Ascendency wish to return humanity to a state closer to this Godhood.

Too bad they are crazy, bigoted assholes working off incomplete information and cooky theories. The Khamite Ascendancy movements believe that their ancestors were unfairly stripped of their divine perfection, enslaved and turned from immortals to mere mortal slaves. What they don't know/forgot is that the ancient Akeh people which fled to the proto Bright Republic were those who had come to regret the excess of the Polyarchy. Perfected bodies free of diseases are one thing but the Polyarchy took this transhumanist movement to absolute extremes, modifying themselves into beings utterly removed from humanity. These dangerous modifications created beings known as the Fey/Cousins (see: Ancalia the Broken Towers) who became so unstable once natural laws began to shift that they degenerated into mad monsters or even flat out died. The various Ascendency movements are working off incomplete and incorrect information, based off an idealized mythical past and a lot of wishful thinking. This has led them to become intensely racially segregated at best and, at worst, they have begun to practice soft eugenics.

A few powerful businessmen with Akeh ancestors have backed up many of these would-be attempts at eugenics, funding underground both clinics. These attempted process at creating super men of 'pure genetic heritage' have been met with intense failure usually resulting in rather mundane problems such as genetic defect and increased cancer. With little success in these clinics, they have turned to poorer urban and rural populations and young, ill educated malcontents. Their rhetoric is clad in righteous indignation at supposed past transgression but the heads of these movements don't really feel any sense of loyalty to fellow Akeh-descended folks. They see all flesh and all colors as nothing but fuel for the great fire of genetic rebirth which awaits them, fully committed to the fact the moment they will succeed their creation will deem them all impure. Already, they have begun incubating fast-growing embryo which they believe to be 'purified Akeh', based off illegally obtained genetic material from Ancalia...

The Machination Cults and Cyber-Gods

Art by Tsvetomir Georgiev

Where the Akeh tried to advance the human form and flesh to godhood, the Din sought to create great mechanism to control the world. These ranged from what we would recognize as technological marvels of our age or near future to more complex systems, including synthetic life and mechanical gods. Where the Khamite Ascendancies movements are angry malcontents, people with a victim complex and feeding off a sense of 'divinity denied', these various Din-derived movements are much stranger. Much of the Bright Republic's culture is Din in origin and much of Din 'mythology' is built around recognizable modernist ideas that technology and science will improve life. Many Din-descended folks thought that their society was an ideal through its technological superiority and, given the constant crackdowns against any technology the government cannot control and regulate, there's been a growing sense that the Bright Republic has "rejected the Din ideals".

While these movements and cults are rooted in Din cultural ideals, there is no racial component to these cults. The core of their ideologies is that mankind can build devices and discover new ways to interact with the world. As technology decays in the Bright Republic and every advance is stifled and/or controlled by government and corporate lobbies (as to not strain the etheric nodes or risk damaging them if modifications would be needed to make use of the invention), more and more scientists grow discontent. As fate would have it, discontent mad scientists and ancient cooky ideological cults of 'Din ideals' met one day in a back alley and things have escalated out of control. Under the nose of (or sometimes with the illegal support of) the Bright Republic's government, there have arisen cults of would-be 'futurist'.

In some circumstances, these could have been a good thing. Unfortunately, at some point, the ideas that man's progress and rights "Shall not be infringed" have definitely become warped. That is because these cults have succeeded much faster than the Khamite ascendants, since the basis of their theurgical knowledge already existed in society. Rural militias, would be entrepreneur, garage inventors, hackers, punks and more these people aren't dangerous by themselves. Underneath the control network of the Bright Republic, however, these people have created/awakened divine intelligences. They are incubating a new generation of technological demiurges. Should they attempt a revolution in the name of personal liberty, access to knowledge and advancement of sciences their victory could be short lived as the machine gods overtake the Etheric Nodes, the internet and their own devices. That is because, you see, this type of research has been done before. In the Bleack Reaches and Nezdhova...

The Procyon Project

Art by Deepak Dhawan

Known under a variety of names, all covert and all secretly illegal, the Procyon Project is the brainchild of several institutes within the Bright Republic government. It operates hidden under their nose and is dedicated to projects which go against the core tenets and agenda of the current (and all future?) administration. They've been at it for decades, now. The project heads and founders are part of the various factions which believe the Bright Republic to be completely lost and beyond repair. Under their secretive orders, entire facilities have been relocated, experts kidnapped and brainwashed and massive ton of materials displaced to secret locations. All in the name of the Procyon Project, the 'Great Gateway'.

The heads of the project have located a fairly isolated chunk of Heaven. While heavily damaged and mostly ripped out of its Celestial Engines, it remain stable, self contained and seemingly away from the gaze of powerful entities. It is, for all intent and purpose, empty and secret. Under the auspice of dimensional studies, the Procyon Project has spent the last few decades preparing to relocate its people and their resources to this part of Heaven. They have acquired samples of most of the population (which the government already had for gene-tracking), which is enough genetic material to recreate mankind. Since the Bright Republic is going down in flame and Arcem is likely to crumble, they have deemed it to be a lost cause. In order to ensure the survival of humanity (read: themselves), the Procyon project has spared no expenses in trying to terraform this relatively small shard of Heaven. It is believed, by their experts, that it will remain stable in its core functions within the next ten thousand years. This is, they believe, enough time to develop the means to restore more of its function and laws.

Because they require access to a Night Road to get there, much of the research of the Procyon Project is responsible for the eruption of small pockets of Uncreated activity within the Republic. Their experiments require them to 'punch holes' in reality and experts estimate that, as they continue to approach the 'promised time' that Uncreated activity will only increase.

Other Cults and Conspiracies

These are but a mere sample of what is going on in the Bright Republic. Truth is, just about everyone is either willingly or unwillingly the puppet of one or more organization or conspiracy. Everyone is a tool and everyone is bought to someone, somewhere they just don't know it. There is a growing list of groups and/or problems which add fuel the fire of the Bright Republic burning down.

• The Atheocracy of Lom and their cult of True Reason has grown in power. Social fabric in the Bright Republic was always on the more cold and rational side, which align perfectly given the two societies are of Din origin. The removal of God/Gods as the final arbiter of all thing in favor of impersonal state forces and organizations mean that the people of the Bright Republic are one step away from being like the Atheocracy.
• There are people in the Bright Republic who are of Ren descent and their ancestor-cults and worship of the True King have re-emerged, just like some Akeh have flirted with transhumanism and the Din turn back to synthetic gods. Their loyalty may not be to the Republic.
• The political and entertainment elites regularly get a pass to defy or ignore any and all government regulations, such as limitations on buying meat, going on vacations during periods of lockdown and suppression and more. They gorge themselves and enjoy life even during times when the common people can't enjoy life. The production of the resources and energy department in the Bright Republic are extremely one sided. This is coated in fearmongering and economic policies framed as people consuming less to help the poor yet in practice it isn't that.
• The poor which try to apply to a variety of government programs which claim to help them are sometimes never seen again. In truth many of these people are sent to extermination camps, genetic research facilities or even sold to slavery to other states in Arcem after having their minds scrubbed. This is to constantly purge and cut down on the population.
• Human trafficking has always been a problem but with cut down on population and a 'planned reduction', there has been an increase in human chattel and sexual slavery. The rich politician and actors have mind scrubbed slaves. The rest are used as raw materials or the aforementioned slave trade. Some have begun to research means to turn human souls into energy to sustain the Etheric Nodes.
• Meat is increasingly illegal in the Bright Republic in order to cut down on food spent on livestock and the 'printing' of synthetic meat. Vegan lifestyles are being encouraged and the cost/taxes on meat are ever increasing, all in the name of helping society in the environment. A sizeable portion of the meat on the market might be human meat.
• Hidden beneath the island are ruins of past incarnations of the Republic and shattered pocket-realms leading into Night Roads. These are haven of mutants and degraded scum. As the mutant kingdoms are organizing, the Bright Republic is increasingly unable to hide their existence and placate them.
• Religious resurgence is an issue in the Bright Republic, as classic religious values clash with blind obedience to an immoral state with no virtues. While the people who cling to religious values and a return to sanity aren't bad people, in the societal confusion of the collapsing Bright Republic many could become swayed by a 'false messiah' which could be an Uncreated entity or a particularly vicious and self-serving Godbound.

Ultimately, either the people in power or people at the bottom will snap. The Bright Republic will come undone by not only the sheer weight of lies it peddled but by a complete loss if faith in it as an idea. When everything become subjective and faith is lost in its wholeness as a county and as an institution (and people already have lost faith) the the street will run red with blood. Then the lives, livelihood and very soul of twelve million people become nothing more than a prize for monsters, crazed godlings, demented demagogues, irrational social engineers and criminal scum.

Godbound: An Alternative Bright Republic

Basically, 'What if the Bright Republic was a big conspiracy'. Of course, because Godbound is very heavy on its shades of grey, things are a little more complex than the evil corporate overlords and social engineers lording over us for their own greedy end. Its also exactly just that, too. Yet it is also the tale of freedom sacrificed for the sake of sanity and comfort.

Its For Your Own Good 

Art by Roger Creus Dorico

Obey the government. Listen to the media, the experts. They know better than you. Things might not always be perfect, in fact there's not a day without some scandal that last ten minutes or some political problem or societal issue. Yet, overall, for the people of the Bright Republic the world make sense. They are an island nation, living in the present day. Their world is one of technology, of science and reason. That much is known. Pay no attention to this which tell otherwise: they are liars, grifters, conspiracy theorist and peddlers of misinformation.

There are no such things as Gods and Monsters.

Except its all true. Because the Bright Republic exist in Arcem, a Realm in the Godbound universe. Its population is lied to on a constant basis, with subtle mind-altering memetic messages to ensure they believe the world to be a globe, that the wider world is akin to what we'd recognize loosely as modern day Earth and that Gods and monsters aren't real. It isn't that the masterminds behind the Republic are pure evil (although they can indeed be very evil and corrupt): it's that the alternative, the truth, is so terrible that it would shatter the minds of its citizen. Let's say YOU found out, some day, that the Earth is actually a broken shard floating around seas of un-creation where monsters come out of the darkness to unmake reality all because Manmade Gods fought to control Heaven and destroyed the world. How would you react? If you had absolute proof of this? You'd go mad.

When the Bright Republic was established, it was arguably one of the more 'sedated' places in Arcem: its people wanted to build a world where advanced technology would enhance human lives without overriding its existence. These ideals were noble compared to techno eugenics or being forcibly fused into the thought-patterns of Divine Artificial Intelligences. In their rather retro futuristic world, the people of what would become the Bright Republic walked a balanced between the comforts of high technology with the liberty (and limitations) of baseline human existence. In a way, their approach to technology and theurgy was similar to how the Amish do: all technologies had to be considered for a time before being applied to society. In that way, the way of life of people would not be instantly upset and drastically changed in ways which the rulers and people alike would have difficulty coping with.

Innocence Lost

Art by Dan Henk

The current state of Arcem has forced the Bright Republic to ever increasingly lie to its public. The Bright Republic is all which remains of the Arcem of old, as everything else has degraded into the post apocalyptic techno-magical world we know from the Godbound book. Castles and ruins, demons and monsters. Sword and sorcery, you could say. Every piece of information produced within the Bright Republic is a lie. Every scientific data is falsified. Every historical record is falsified. These are produced through Theotechnical wonders (which are rapidly breaking down) and amplified through the technology which is sent from the Etheric Nodes. People who go on vacations to other countries enter planes that take off and then land on small islands off the coast, where their minds are remolded to create false (but interesting and happy) memories.

This state of being was NOT what the founders of the Bright Republic wanted. However as the damage of the war over Heaven accelerated, it increasingly found it difficult to control immigration to its stable, etheric node-controlled lands. Not only that but many people from Kham carried with them transgenic modifications which either enhanced their bodies or minds. These people found themselves forcibly re-altered and 'neutered' to maintain a more egalitarian world view, as heavy transhumanism was taboo in the Bright Republic. In time, the Uncreated night kept creeping. The region which became the Bleak Reaches became increasingly alien and dystopian. It simply reached a point where the outside world was too much of a living nightmare, filled with monsters, mutations and war. Society was at a breaking point. Drastic measures had to be taken,

And so, the Bright Republic sacrificed Freedom for Security. Where once theotechnical means of control over the human mind and soul were illegal in the Bright Republic, it became the norm. Not as a mean to enhance humans but to control them and ensure they were kept 'sane'. Entire centuries of history were rewritten. Records were falsified. Then the nano-eidolon shrouds were released, creeping in everyone's brains to rewrite their mind's pathways. Artificial intelligences were created to help oversee these networks of control. Society and technology in the Bright Republic has been going downward for centuries now but people don't realize it. Since humans live around a maximum of seventy or eighty years, history is regularly rewritten, rebooted and reset. Past centuries are then cast as time of oppression, of war and terror where untold number of people died, reframed as a great narrative. All this to explain the mass extermination and lobotomization of past generations to hide that technology and lifestyles had to be downscaled to meet the limits of the Republic's current and ever-decaying technology.

Cryptids and Conspiracies

Art by Leo Colapietro

Every single conspiracy theory is true in the Bright Republic or, at the very least, make good fuel for an adventure. Cryptids are a good example: the truth is that, as the Celestial Engines are failing, mutations are growing in number. Lesser mutations are blamed on pollution and environmental issues but once in a while, a true monstrosity is born. These become the shaggy ape-men who live in the woods, the sea monsters and other creatures. Those which aren't found quickly are usually those whose twisted nature make them hard to detect even for divine-level beings. They warp time, space and mind around them.

There are shady 'Men in Black' and creepy doctors in white coats scattered across the Republic. These are either people without identity (having been erased from society and history) or artificial life forms. Such transhumanism was once banned in the Bright Republic's previous incarnations but as things have become more and more dire, such beings have been created. Of course, for the most part they don't actually target people who post on the internet about things the media have deemed 'conspiracies'. These are relatively harmless compared to what is classified as an 'Intrusion'. An 'Intrusion' is what happen when something akin to an Uncreated cult has sprung or a local area's laws of physics have started to degrade. These are far more pressing threats than a simple podcast or internet comment.

The threat of Intrusions are real, even if the Bright Republic has become little more than a paranoid and demented totalitarian state in the pocket of elites whose laws are passed to benefit them and no one else. Unfortunately what they don't realize is that this very elitism and abuse of power has fed into the Intrusion. Or maybe some of them do realize but don't care. Pockets of proto-cults to the Uncreated Night have sprung all over the country over the last decade. Even with the ever increasing censorship of information, angry and discontent people with meaningful reasons to be pissed are slowly taken in by the lure of ruinous forces. Desire for reform, freedom and meaningful revolution are twisted into depression, anger, rage and utter discontent for the lives of anyone else. Meanwhile, religious fervor is in upswing as people desperately need something to believe in the face of their society slowly crumbling yet the government and culture has heavily attacked faith, since it demand only faith in the state, the media and institutions. The moment a Godbound emerges within the Bright Republic, for all to see, it will be a reckoning: they could be a saint or a monster but it wouldn't matter so much as people find something to follow and believe in that isn't sterile decadence.

Cults to horrific powers aren't the only ones which have sprung. A few ancient, so-called 'Mystery Cults' have emerged. These are the survivors of older incarnations of the Bright Republic, before it became the one we know today over the last century. These range from ancient, abstract cults to the ancient machine gods of the ancient Din, who are the distant ancestors of the Bright Republic. As the fabric of society unravel, these mystery cults turn to theotechnical and theurgical knowledge which have long been proscribed and erased from culture by the current ruling elites of the Republic. Others are resurgent ancient religion and ideologies of the non-Din folks (such as the Ren, Akeh and other less known minor groups). Rejecting the current society they turn back to what their ancestors believed in and forment coup and plots to assume control over the crumbling Bright Republic, they too having been driven to despair and believing nothing can be saved. Lacking the resources and a complete understanding of their history and own belief system, they are little more than pathetic malcontents which would be laughed at as mere pretenders by the outside world.

Even the media and government aren't immune to the Intrusion: their own selfish greed and desire for adoration and power has left many even more corrupt than people can even imagine as they've started to sell out the Bright Republic to outer powers: some to Uncreated cults too, others to the Atheocracy of Lom. Others sell out not out of ideology but simply believing they will emerge on top once it all crumble and have begun to cut deals with Vissio or the artificial intelligences of Nezdovha, two nations interested in the infrastructure of the Etheric nodes.

The Special Resources Department

The Bright Republic need not be a place for antagonist to exist and oppress people. One must understand the Bright Republic's overlord have done this to survive. Yes, mainly to save their own asses but also the entire population of currently around twelve million. The world as presented in Godbound is a dangerous place: the Uncreated are monsters, dangerous Blighted mutations randomly spring forth and other, even stranger monsters, exist. The Bright Republic's SRD is akin to a cross between the BRPD of Hellboy and the fictional version of the FBI/CIA. They aren't 'heroes' in the modern sense, as their job often require them to be callous with individual lives but they aren't monster out to oppress people.

The important thing to remember to keep things in perspective is that, every time this comes off as 'really creepy', one need to look back at the setting material presented in Godbound and Worlds Without Numbers. These twelve million people aren't ready to face what's outside. Yet, at the same time the sheer monstrosity of the Bright Republic's lies cannot endure.

Godbound/Scion: The Titans, Part 1

Recently I've finally gotten the chance to give a decently thorough reading of Scion's Second Edition and its lore. As is typical and expected of White Wolf Onyx Path, just about everything in there is seriously quite the mixed bag. For every idea expanded and reworked into something better suited to developing a campaign and characters there are ten more terrible ideas. In particular, the Titans have seen a fairly massive chance: their nature and roster, in particular, have been both expanded and yet also contracted. Titans have gained in variety and what is defined as a 'Titan' as well as gained new and interesting ways to interact with the world. Yet, at the same time, they have become smaller (pun intended). Gone are the massive Titan Realms and the idea that Titans are these vaster, more primordial beings, at least in comparison to 1st edition lore.

This is my own rework of the Titans, combining what I personally consider to be the best part of either version of the lore, as well as notes and scraps which survived from John's Scion Resources. There will be quite a bit of incoherence where the old lore meet the new lore. This is perfectly intentional, as this gray area of where the lore changed between version of the games add further gray areas to what Titans are as well as what they could be.

A lot of these ideas also overlap with my Urban Fantasy concepts. This is because I've taken quite a bit of cues over the years from games such as Scion. Unsurprisingly a lot of material could end up reused in some capacity for either games and, as such, these posts are also tagged as 'Urban Fantasy'.

The Nature of Titans

Marduk vs Tiamat by Christian Johnson

Defining what a Titan is will be a complicated matter, as previously mentioned, due to the fusion of 1st and 2nd edition lore. Some of them are truly massive, primordial beings, less of an individual and more of an aspect of a greater concept, as these often were in the game's first edition. Others are more classified as such due to their action and nature in opposing the gods of a pantheon. Then there are beings which would be Titan by nature, but aren't because they aren't directly opposed to the gods of a pantheon. The Titans are beings which can/must include on or more the following traits in order to be classified as a Titan:

• Some Titans are Titans by Nature. All Titans share a connection with one or more concept of the natural world. This doesn't always make a being a Titan, as there are obviously Gods tied to such concepts, but the Titanic beings whose nature is Titan-like tend to embody these concepts on a less 'human' level and more of a 'conceptual' level which makes them appear more alien to the Gods and mortals alike.
• Some Titans are by Calling, which make them beings whose archetypal nature make them enemies of the Gods. They are adversarial, destructive and/or tyrannical beings which the Pantheon have held at bay, defeated and/or locked away.
• Some Titans are simply Titans because they are Monstrous. There may be gods with monstrous traits, yes, but some Titans are monsters on an archetypal level. This is the natural state of beings such as Jormungandr, Apep or Typhon. These also include beings which are Titans-like or Titan-derived through their own nature, even if they seemingly defy taxonomy.

This slightly contradictory nature does mean that the Titan roster include both the vast, cosmic beings of 1st Edition (which were called Titan Avatars) as well as the more oddball beings of 2nd edition which are always tied to a specific element or concept. Some Titans are tied to the Titanrealms (which are both a location and part of their body/essence) while others are more akin to rogue agents.

• Titans can create Titanspawns, which is the somewhat catch-all term for their minions. How exactly they are created varies, ranging from actual physical birth to more abstract creation as well as the infusion of a Titan's power into another being, such as creating massive Nemean beasts or deliberate twisting of a mortal into a semi-divine monstrosity.
• A rare few Titans can create Scions. This is not a common ability, especially not for the more primordial of the Titans but the 'lesser' of the Titans, those singular beings of great power and destruction often posses the ability to create Scions. Generally most posses only a single mean/type of Scion they create, such as creating them the 'old fashioned way' (such as the rogue being and enemy of the Shen, 'White Eyebrows' impregnating a woman) or through slightly more arcane creation means. A rare few Titans have taken up the concept of Chosen or Incarnation, but this is a somewhat slow and abstract process where a mortal is slowly remolded, through their actions (accidental or deliberate) into a Scion/incarnation of a Titan.

Lands of Mirhne: The Sorcerers, Part 2

For some on Mirhne, the term 'Sorcerer' conjure up the image of evil foreign wizards. They are foul men indebted to even fouler gods with 'unnatural' features to the Men of Mirhne. The isolation of Mirhne's culture has bred a certain level of xenophobia. To some extent this is to be expected or even healthy, as in their barbaric world anything which is foreign is a potential enemy or rival. One Sorcerer has exploited this stereotype willingly and openly, marking himself as a strange and vile exotic threat, preying on the superstition of the Men of Mirhne.

Arash Adraj, the 'Man of the South' (The Trickster)

Art by Duy An Doh.

The sorcerer who call himself Arash Adraj is the archetypal evil sorcerer from foreign lands. His features are either swarthy and hideous or strangely thin and sallow. His clothing, whichever form it take, is always strange and exotic and colorful compared to the more drab colors of the Men of Mirhne. He is either bald with busy eyebrows or sporting a magnificent beard which is style in odd and foreign ways. Whenever he does appear, he conjure the image of all which is alien and exotic. The men of Mirhne fear him as the evil foreigner with inscrutable goals, who speak in forbidden tongues and worship evil foreign gods.

In truth, this is (mostly) an act. For he is The Trickster.

A master of disguise and illusions, the man who goes by the current identity of 'Arash Adraj' has had many names thanks to his extended life span and unnatural powers, the only things the Sorcerers share among each others. He is the weakest of the Sorcerers and the only one which has likely been born in past centuries, to some isolated island folks to the deepest south of Mirhne. Ethnically and culturally distinct as they might have been they were still cousins to the men of Mirhne and not evil, devils-worshiping barbarians. Should one dig into the past of Arash Adraj they would, perhaps, be able to discover that he is the most recent of the Sorcerers and began his life as a mortal man (whether he still is a human being is debatable) in these now mostly extinct folks before learning his craft at the hand of one or more Sorcerer, enacting foul rituals and sacrificing people to eldritch powers. Of the Sorcerers he is among the most active in recent history and yet the hardest to ascertain. The man calling himself 'Arash Adraj' is a master of disguises, both magical and mundane. He has learned to speak hundred of languages and even invented some languages and accents whole cloth to further play along his disguise as strange foreign travelers. Simple trickery and manipulation come naturally to him and he can accomplish much without any hint of true eldritch powers.

His current identity as Arash Adraj is a relatively recent creation. After claiming one or more remote locations, he used his powers and manual labor to construct crude palaces which were then coated in layers of illusion to appear far larger and more grandiose than they really are. From these bases of operation he has created the identity of 'Arash Adraj'. an evil foreigner with inscrutable motives enthralled to evil gods, a slayer of kings and the supposed envoy of an evil empire from the other side of the world. Of the Sorcerers he is the most motivated by material wealth and pleasure but, given his nature as a trickster nobody can ever ascertain what his real, eldritch goals, might be.

• The Trickster/'Arash Adraj' is the most approachable of the Sorcerers and the one most suited to be a patron...yet is also quite dangerous and a liability. His person as a mad, exotic wizard or some evil exiled emperor might be quite amusing but they are enforced cruelly. Many of his slaves die in terrible display of violence ever so often if only so he can make grandiose declarations akin to "You have failed me for the last time!".
• The Trickster has a harem in his 'Arash Adraj' and he is not above kidnapping beautiful young maiden. The truth is that he isn't as vile as the stories claim and his many wives do live a rather lavish wife. Of course, the Trickster is not above sacrificing a few of them once in a while to power eldritch rituals or if he suspect one of them is trying to usurp him. He also has a second harem of men but those he keep for other identities and disguises...
• Any possible adventure could lead into the Trickster being the real 'man behind the man'. As the weakest Sorcerer he can make a good antagonist, since any mighty thewed barbarian hero has a chance to take him on in a fight. Whether or not the killing blow was a real killing blow and not an illusion, however, well that will remain to be seen...

Non-Oldschool Game Concept: The Monster Earth

Primarily this has been a very OSR-influenced blog when it come to the RPG content but OSR and OSR-derived/inspired games aren't my only area of interest. There are game concepts where, frankly, that game ecosystem, mindset and concepts just don't really work. This is one such example, although I do still plan to make use of some amount of sandboxing tools to help myself should I get to run this.

The Monster Earth

"History shows again and again/How nature points out the folly of men"

-Blue Oyster Cult, Godzilla

Sometimes it may not seem like it given how much material on this blog is influenced by Western works but as many post have hinted or openly stated I'm actually quite the weaboo. Its just that influence from Japan has its time and place. The daikaiju (Giant Monster) genre is something I've been a fan for years even if I rarely get to gush about. That said, the genre has seen quite the nice resurgence in the mid-to-late 2010, with Legendary Picture's 'Monster Verse' and the Pacific Rim franchise while on the other side of the ocean, Toho resurrected Godzilla in their own way with the controversial re-imaging Shin Godzilla and the highly disappointing Godzilla animated movies trilogy. These last few years have really given the anemic and forgotten genre of giant monsters the kick it need and, just like Godzilla himself, this ancient behemoth has risen from the depths and triumphantly roared, declaring it will not be easily put down.

King of the Monsters concept art(?)

The Monster Earth joins my other ongoing settings as I flesh out a world for future games, if maybe one day the world is ever so slightly less shitty and dystopian. This seems unlikely but the looming sense of dread and powerlessness of this year has certainly got me thinking about the apocalyptic nature of kaiju. The 'kaiju' is a giant monster yes, but it is also more than that. It is also often a true monster in the mythical and symbolic sense, a primordial beast of chaos from mythology reborn in the public consciousness. It is the primordial monster like Tiamat, often reptilian or serpentine and emerging from the dark depths of the world. Yet at the same time it is also a creature born of mankind's folly and corruption and how we often unleash in the world forces which remind us how small and insignificant we can sometimes be. The kaiju is a fusion of primordial monster and science fiction's dire warning about things we cannot control. Its, also, a giant fucking monster that often breathe fire or spit acid and there is an undeniable cool factor to it. The greatness of kaiju is that evoke all these things (mythical terror, eldritch forces, looming dread) while also being completely at ease with engaging in the simple fun of seeing giant monsters fight and break stuff.

Currently its unclear what system I'd use for the Monster Earth, although a mecha-related system is possible. Giant robots and giant monsters go together like peanut butter and chocolate and its generally accepted that creating a giant, man-made mechanical monster is the logical coolest conclusion when it come to mankind defending itself. As Pacific Rim said, 'we created monsters of our own'. It is also possible that human mind-linked to Kaiju could be an option but right now nothing is certain when it come to mechanics.

The Birth of the Monster Earth

Let no blame lie at the innocents/
Who have prayed

Unsurprisingly given the Godzilla roots of the setting, the Monster Earth properly begin with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even if technically previous atom splitting had occurred. Still, the nuclear tests and explosions from WW2 and then the Cold War are what truly began mankind's downward spiral and the awakening of monsters, even if the monsters had always been with us all along. In the Monster Earth setting, 'radiation' doesn't work as realistic radiation does but rather function in a retro futuristic fashion, often creating monsters and mutants or at the very least accelerating their growth. From the 1940 onward, humanity had started to split the atom in earnest and it seemed like nuclear power would be the way of the future for whatever side of the Cold War could truly harness its full potential.

In the Monster Earth setting, giant monsters had been spotted and recognized by science before the 1950 but these had been flukes or long lost specimen. In the 1920 and 1930, explorers had found things such as rare exotic beasts living on isolated islands where specimen grew to prodigious size. Sea monsters had also been spotted yet in most cases these were one off mutations or rare specimen limited to a single area. The 1950 and 1960 saw a drastic increase in monster attacks as nuclear testing created monstrous mutations which grew in size and aggression. The birth of these creatures only spurred the development of stranger, more dangerous sciences as the world's greatest minds struggled to find new and inventive ways to quickly destroy these beasts.

Super science & Ultra-terrestrials

Megalon is cruelly underrated.

In the Monster Earth timeline, human scientific development takes a different direction from ours, both due to the change of events and a chance of fundamental physics. For example, radiation-related technologies flourish in new and bizarre ways, allowing for the glorious 'atomic age' of old science fiction while also creating ever increasing pollution which birth monsters. However, in turn, this does create entire new scientific fields dedicated to the restoration and decontamination of Earth. Energy weapons (such as Maser) are developed and tested to repel giant monsters, even if at that point they are crude, primitive and only able to be mounted as bulky weapons carried by large vehicles. At that stage they are only useful against massive, lumbering targets such as kaiju.

It is around this time which humanity uncovers that it is neither alone in the universe or on Earth. As space exploration escalate, ruins are found on the moon by Soviet explorers who attempt to visit the moon's 'dark side' to claim it against the Americans. Instead what they find are alien ruins and their visit awakens the Selenian, a race of human-like aliens who declare war on humanity. Around the same time, impossibly old ruins are found on Earth and confirmed to be of a civilization older and more advanced than any other recorded in history. The undersea kingdom of Atlantis and later the Subterrnean Lands and lords of mole men and morlocks both at various points fight against the surface-dwelling humans, unleashing and/or controlling monsters of their own. What is later gleaned from the history of these people through more peaceful contact is shocking: they claim Human (or, as they call them, the Young Race or the Unworthy among many other epithet) share a common ancestor with their people, some ancient and primordial 'root race'. The humans spread over the surface after some great cataclysm and the end of an era of 'Gods and Monsters'. Human super science and their rapid advancement (and their wars) brought back to the world a level of radiation which had not been seen in eons.

In time, not even deeper space was safe. Humanity's rapid ascent and defiance of monsters attracted the attention of the scheming Xorinth and other alien factions. There are dark powers, hiding in the depths of space. Would be alien overlords, manipulative cabals, planetary looters and, of course, giant monsters with a vicious streak a mile long. As monsters from Earth and space fought there were no winners, only losers. It is from these short lived wars between species that humanity developed its next generation of weapons.

Creating Monsters?

If I die in this world/Who will know
something of me?

So what is it that birth a kaiju? What are the phenomena which transform an animal into a being of phenomenal size and power? Not all kaiju are ancient beings, many of the lesser kaiju were born in the modern age and are the byproduct of human science or at the very least saw accidental exposure to nuclear waste, chemicals and other pollutant as the catalyst for their mutation. Many kaiju are unique monstrosities with little in common with each others. Some are blotched, misshapen and bug-eyed creatures which thrash around in pain while others breed true, sometimes by themselves. 

Kaiju only vaguely display related traits, which are generally called the K-Factor which is also a scale, with an incomplete rating being a small mutation or species which display only partial Kaiju traits, such as larger-than-average size or primal traits while full rating indicate all common kaiju traits of increased size, near immortality, enhanced regeneration and partial or complete ability to resist or metabolize one or more form of radiation. Even high rating mean the creature exhibit one or more of these traits on a level beyond the traits of first generation kaiju. The scale has indeed been broken more than once. The most common factors in kaiju birth/metamorphosis are as follow, bearing in mind that most are completely unique organisms:

• As previously mentioned, in the Monster Earth's world, radiation can cause massive mutations. What, in our world, would cause cancer creates unnatural growth in many 'lesser' life forms. When combined with the other factors in this list, the increased levels of radiation in the Monster Earth creates an environment where radiation become like monster steroids.
• Under kaiju film logic, more primitive=bigger and stronger. Atavistic mutations produce bigger, stronger and meaner animals and creatures which undergo such mutations from exposure to toxin and pollutants often find themselves displaying primitive traits and increased aggression, going as far as to display traits which appear reptilian. Since all mammals descend from reptilian creatures, this make many kaiju display traits from both.
• Many creatures descend from older, more primordial creatures developed/mutated/engineered by the 'Root Race' in Earth's prehistory. These creatures were engineered for a different, wilder world. It is also believed that prehistoric retroviruses, which preyed upon truly ancient organism, maybe have been awakened and released in the modern world and are mutating animals.
• Earth may very well be alive and its been noted that as the more humanity encroached on nature the faster the rate of kaiju mutations, as if the planet itself was accelerating the transformation.
• Some kaiju, as mentioned, were simply born/created as kaiju, back when the creatures were part of the ecosystem which the so-called Root Race shaped. These creatures diverged from the evolutionary tree possibly before the dinosaurs. Any traits they share with modern animals has a chance to have evolved independently through evolutionary convergence.
• Kaiju of previous categories exist inside their own 'pocket dimensions' if isolated islands and cave networks. Science learned from Selenian, Atlanteans and Subterranean shows that an ancient cataclysm bathed the Earth in unique cosmic energies which 'splintered' reality. Separated from our time/space continuum, creatures either naturally evolved or survived from the Root Race's era.
• Ironically, many attempts at cleaning the planet created kaiju. Every research, every byproduct of it or experimental process which clean the planet or experimental weapons which kills kaiju has a chance to eventually itself produce a situation which birth a new mutation.
• Some kaiju aren't fully native to Earth and have become mutated by exposure to alien effects, be it extra dimensional energies or the leftovers of alien technology. This and the presence of aliens, however, is a story for another time.
• Finally many Kaiju are very clearly man made and not in an accidental way. As the creatures appeared more and more, the twin sides of the Cold War first tried to control, then weaponize and finally flat out create monsters. Even with the end of the Cold War, this has not stopped. In the modern era, many eco-terrorist have taken it upon themselves to illegally acquire kaiju body parts to dump in the wilderness. This can also happen accidentally when a kaiju dies at sea and its body become food for other animals.
• Strangely enough, humans have shown a shocking degree of resistance to being mutated into Kaijus. While human DNA can be (and has been!) used in various mad science projects there haven't been any successful projects where a human has been mutated into a giant, city-crushing monster. This isn't to say that humans haven't reacted weirdly to their changing world: odd psychic powers and radiation-induced deformities creating mutant tribes have occurred. Yet the odd 'K-Factor' which transform a being into a kaiju has never manifested inside humans. It has been theorized that this is due to the possible link modern humans have with the Root Race.

Lands of Mirhne: The Sorcerers, Part 1

This is a repeat and expansion of the information which exist on the Sorcerers, as previously outlined in this post.

The Sorcerers are each unique individuals and they been woven through the history and myth of Mirhne. They are immortal and in the shape of men and women but beyond that who or what they are is unclear. They are said to possess unique powers, can speak all languages, curse the land, summon dead gods and travel all corners of the earth even beyond Mirhne. Sometimes the stories say they were the chosen servants of the Gods of old while others claim they are the last survivors of an older race of men, one closer to the powers of the gods. Others make them out to be evil and jealous individuals who have taken into themselves dark powers which no mortal should ever bear inside their flesh and soul. Some say they are all as old of Mirhne itself and were there when the land was young while others claim they are evil, foreign people with foreign magic and foreign gods to be feared and reviled by 'all good folks' (as the people of Mirhne often fear strangers from faraway lands). Their exact nature is unclear but so are their numbers, with an estimate around nine and twelve, assuming some names which pop up in myths are alternate names or conflation of different sorcerers.

The Sorcerers are as close as the Lands of Mirhne get to a classical spellcaster and even then, these beings are not a mere playable class. They are each a unique yet optional NPC, potential patron or even major antagonist. Much of their nature is mere hearsay and speculation and it is very likely that whatever is true of one sorcerer is untrue of another. Perhaps the only thing they do share in common is that each is a more/less-than-human, semi immortal being with powers to truly bend reality. While seemingly human in form they are alien and aloof in their goals.

The Night Witch

Art by Gal Or

Aloof and painfully beautifully, the Night Witch is the archetypal lady of dark magic, straddling the line between near mortal spellcaster and goddess of wrath. She is both the most physically and mentally human of the Sorcerers  and also one of the more alien and ill understood. She is a recurring figure in history. Kings and heroes have been driven mad by their desire to claim her as a lover and ancient tales speak in equal measure of her fruitful romances as much as it speak of dreadful curses and love affairs which end in bloodbaths. Some believe she is able to change form (all of them beautiful and terrible) while others believe there have been more than one Night Witch, as some stories do speak of her being (somehow) tricked and killed by a jealous rival or having passed the mantle from mother to daughter.

In truth, while the Night Witch is certainly desirable and gifted with a perfect, ever youthful body she is not as much of a sexual being as people believe her to be, although past incarnations/mantle bearer may indeed perhaps indulged far too much in their power over weak willed men (and women!). Perhaps it is due to this reputation of inciting desire and creating these painful tales of love, lust and revenge that the Night Witch has faded more and more in history, as making herself the center of attention has perhaps ended poorly several times. It is also possible that she has grown tired of mortal companionship, seeing lovers die one after the other. If this is true then perhaps her eternal youth is somehow limited to only herself or, at the very least, whoever hold the mantle of the Night Witch.

The Night Witch is a mistress of many arts beyond the gift of her ageless body, which makes her physically potent. Her title come from her powers of shadows and the night, although this is not directly the creation of physical darkness: the Night Witch can obscure or reveal certain facts, acquire long lost knowledge or curse people to forgetfulness. She can appear and disappear and maybe extend such gifts to others. Mists, clouds and even dust storms can obscure her domain as much as a metaphorical fog of forgetfulness. She is said to be a mistress of the arts of healing too but it appears she cannot give true immortality to men.

• For some players, actually attempting to court the Night Witch may be a valid goal.  Beyond the mere physical desires she may entice, many believe her to be the ideal queen or guardian mother of a people, as old tales do speak of her (or one of her predecessors) to have one time ruled a kingdom. In those days she was beloved by her people and feared by her enemies and many believe that winning her heart could establish the greatest kingdom on Mirhne.
• Alternatively, a female player character may seek the patronage of the Night Witch in a bid to further cement her power and influence through fear, as the Night Witch may very well be among the most powerful women in Mirhne. Of course that's assuming she's actually human.
• As one with powers to hide or reveal, it may be that the Night Witch knows some piece of information which no one else on Mirhne knows.
• Finally her medical knowledge may be the only way to restore one's crippled body without selling out oneself to truly eldritch powers.

The Underhive War: My Upcoming Grimdark Future Firefight Campaign

Classic Necromunda in its '90 glory.

Time for something new (sort of) here at the Amateur Dungeoneers. Starting around next week end I'll be playing an ongoing campaign of Grimdark Future: Firefight, using their Campaign Rules and the Gangs of Hive City list. In other words, that's right, its a discount Necromunda campaign, played on Roll20 since we're all stuck in this dystopian hell with no escape. As a Firefight campaign, this mean individual units can and will level up should they survive in a mission. In addition to these, the following Advanced Rules (from the Full Rulebook, available to patrons on Patreon) as well as house rules will be in effect:

• City Fighting: This add rules for buildings, sewers, defensive positions, throwing objects and cornering among other things. These rules add more to the feeling of the urban environment of Necromunda.
• Flamers with 'Phosphor': The flame-based weapons receive an upgrade in the form of the 'Phosphor' rule from the Machine Cult list, which make weapons with this rule ignore cover. This is to make flamethrower weapons more distinct and come with an adjusted cost.
• Added Weapons for Bodyguards: To join in on the Flamer fun, the third player (more on that in a bit) gets Flamethrower Pistols and Flamethrowers added to the Bodyguard list.

These should be enough to tweak the game a bit more to my tastes without alienating the new player. The campaign will consist of Five Missions which is the bare minimum one can roll for a campaign under the 'Game-Limited' option, which consist of rolling 1d6+4 for to see how many missions one plays. This should be enough for a small campaign to get used to it and see what else needs to be tweaked for future campaigns should people be interested in playing again.

The Underhive War will consist of text-based Battle Reports posted here at the Amateur Dungeoneers. This isn't something I am used to do but, hey, the whole point of this is doing something different from my usual Tabletop stuff which normally consist of RPG material or Grimdark Future army list. Now, to introduce our three players and chosen gangs:

• There's me, Bob Something and I will be playing the Brutes/Goliath gang, arguably the most iconic of the Necromunda gangs. Vat-grown slabs of muscles and rage that looks like a cyberpunk reject crossed with '90 wrestler.
• Then Ollanius will be playing as the Miners/Orlock, the blue collar workers/violent gangers with a leather enthusiast look crossed with an angry hipster. These angry scrap iron workers are ready to kneecap any opposition.
• Finally Kiyo will be playing the Bodyguards/Palanite Enforcers, the law enforcement/mercenary/sanctioned gang and enforcer of the Lord Helmwar. Less here to dominate this portion of the Underhive but, rather, kick in the Goliaths and Orlock due to them stepping out of line and affecting productivity with their ongoing turf war.

Lands of Mirhne: The Darklands

Art by Hans Park

A recurring pattern which emerges across the various Lands of Mirhne posts are repeated mentions of the 'deepest and darkest wilderness' in some shape or form, hinting that Mirhne has corners of its wild which are considered terrifying and deeply unsettling even to its hardy people, as well as considering them to be completely and utterly beyond the reach of civilization and mankind. One can travel there, one can explore it and, if they are lucky, maybe survive it. But they won't conquer it. These places are beyond the reach of civilization.

For most of these, it is simply a matter of environments. These are inhospitable lands filled with dangerous animals and whatever less dangerous regions of Mirhne exist have only slowly been taken over by humanity's presence through centuries. Others are home to greater terrors and are truly monster-infested. They are the den of degenerate Low Men, who have split from their much more peaceful kin or been exiled due to their vile worship of dark powers or due to sickness or the den of Teratoma Beasts. Other still, however, are different: stories claim they are lands-between-the-worlds, places which are the 'cracks in the world'. Myths and folklore call them wounds or pox marks upon the stretched surface of Mirhne, from which not only unholy things have crawled but, more often than not, things have fallen into. These are similar to the concept of Kelipot from Silent Legion. Or perhaps, more strangely, Mirhne itself is a form of Kelipot.

The Darklands

The Darklands are comparable to the places such as the Underdark or Feywild of D&D. They are otherworldly and dangerous places but they are not as completely removed from the 'normal' world as another, more alien plane of existence would be. The Darklands are pockets of the odd places of the world, the cracks in reality (assuming Mirhne itself isn't just a bigger crack?). They take a variety of form but most are fairly shadowed places, hidden cave networks and valleys deep within mountain ranges with slightly impossible geometry. There isn't much else to add to the Darklands themselves are conceptually they are nothing new to tabletop fantasy settings and they aren't anything that strive to reinvent the wheel.

Rather, its their inhabitants and content which I wish to slightly flesh out:

• The Darklands, as mentioned, are a good location for a full blown 'monster lair'. While Mirhne tries to often be ambiguous, sometimes a monster lair is a monster lair. There are creatures which are vile, twisted and/or ancient and wholly taken by supernatural forces or twisted and corrupted beyond their natural forms. Hidden away from the world they can fester in the dark.
• There are many exotic beasts which exist in the Darklands, some of them which may appear quite monstrous but are technically nothing more than animals. Some believe them to be mundane creatures which became lost between worlds and have wondered into the Darklands from far away places. Some appear as unusual variations of known beasts while others are wholly alien (as in possibly extra terrestrial, perhaps?) animals.
• Strange, thin and troglodyte half-men exist in the Darklands. They are pale, thin creatures with often hairless heads and impossibly slight stature. While the Mirhnian term for them could be translated in English as analogous to 'elf' or 'fairy' these strange beings can be quite dangerous. Legends say they eat not only the flesh and bones of men but their very memories. Some obscure folklore tales say that in ancient times, Priests fed them the bodies of dead kings and poets so that their knowledge would survive in these beings. That their caves are decorated with strange, impossible runes and painting which seemingly describe events and stories deep into the past hint at this being true.
• Some say sorcerers travel down to the Darklands to speak with the petrified bodies of dead God-Kings and that ancient temples made of stone and/or bone exist deep within the earth, where mad men gather in the depths of giant's ribcages to chant dreadful dirges and enact dark rituals which make the very earth shake and summon misfortune and disasters.